Update: House Panel Votes to Overturn Net Neutrality Rules

The partisan battle over the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules continued Wednesday, with a House subcommittee voting to approve a joint resolution of disapproval that overturns those rules.

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The partisan battle over the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules continued Wednesday, with a House subcommittee voting to approve a joint resolution of disapproval that overturns those rules.

Late in the day, the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee voted to approve the joint resolution by a vote of 15 to 8; it now moves to the full House.

"The Internet works pretty well; it's the government that doesn't," Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, chairman of the subcommittee, said at the start of a hearing on the joint resolution of disapproval he introduced last month.

During the hearing, Democrats arguing that the rules are needed to help produce the Netflix or Facebook of the future, while the GOP said that Internet companies like have thrived without net neutrality rules and are, therefore, unnecessary.

The FCC adopted its net neutrality rules without the authority to do so and without input from Congress. "I do not want to cede such authority to the FCC," Walden said.

In mid-February, Walden and full committee chairman Fred Upton of Michigan joined with Senate Republican leaders to author a joint resolution of disapproval that would overturn the FCC's rules. The resolution, part of the Congressional Review Act, would need to pass with a majority in both chambers and survive a veto from President Obama, so the passage of the bill is unlikely, but it has made waves nonetheless.

Also last month, the House voted to suspend funding for the net neutrality rules via an amendment to a spending bill, but that too has not yet seen further action.

The committee initially planned to just hold a vote on the resolution Wednesday, but Democrats pushed Walden to hold a hearing on the issue before a vote.

That hearing basically turned into Democrats arguing that net neutrality rules are necessary to protect the status quo of an open Internet and Republicans arguing that there is no evidence of abuse so the rules are unnecessary.

Companies like Netflix are growing because the Internet is open and accessible and provides consumers with choice, said Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat. "That's what we seek to protect," she said. "By preventing blocking, the Internet can remain a source of innovation and new ideas  not a platform where consumers and businesses are told what sources of news and entertainment they can access."

Walden, however, pointed out that Netflix achieved its success without having net neutrality rules in place, a sentiment echoed by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican who has been critical of the FCC's rules.

She questioned Robin Chase, founder of Zipcar, who testified at the hearing in support of the net neutrality rules. "Unless I'm missing something, you set up a very successful company using the Internet as it was and you did that without a whole lot of trouble," Blackburn said.

Chase disputed the assertion that she set up Zipcar without any trouble, and argued that she supports the FCC rules so that future startups will have the same opportunities as she did. In written testimony, Chase said "we cannot rely on the telecommunications industry to define the Internet."

"The industry would almost certainly believe that they know definitely what consumers want, and they would define the Internet as their new preferred 'triple play'  their telephone service, their video service, and their idea of your ideal Internet experience," Chase continued. "Such an approach is a perfect receipt for stifling innovation in this country."

Basically, it comes down to whether or not you believe ISPs will violate the spirit of the open Internet, and whether the FCC should be the one to hold them accountable. The GOP is essentially subscribing to an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality, but Democrats are not convinced that the system is running smoothly. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said that idea that everything is "peachy keen" with the telecom industry "isn't based in reality."

The FCC got rolling on net neutrality after Comcast was accused of blocking access to P2P sites like BitTorrent back in 2007. Comcast admitted to slowing down its network during peak times, but denied ever blocking content. The FCC disagreed, however, and handed down a 2008 network management enforcement action that required Comcast to be transparent about its network management. Comcast complied with this request, but still appealed. In April 2010, a court ruled in Comcast's favor, arguing that the FCC had no right to handle network management issues, throwing the FCC's authority on broadband into question.

Both sides also clashed over whether the FCC's rules have the support of the industry. Democrats pointed to votes of confidence from industry groups, but Republicans were quick to point out that most companies  including AT&T, which testified at Wednesday's hearing  only agreed to the FCC's rules in their current form because they were the lesser of two evils.

"This is not a perfect solution," said James Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs at AT&T. "Our preference is that the FCC should not regulate in the Internet space."

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, however, acted in good faith to find a middle ground that will "not require us to change our business practices," Cicconi continued. The resulting rules are fair and will help maintain AT&T's ability to invest, he said.

Finally, Reps. Eshoo and Henry Waxman, also a California Democrat, said the focus on the net neutrality rules and this joint resolution is distracting the committee from more pressing tech issues like the spectrum crunch and an interoperable public safety network.

"We're wasting time on a destructive resolution that threatens the openness of the Internet," Waxman said.

Eshoo further insisted that there is a "virus here in Congress" that's not about net neutrality but "any sort of regulation."

Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, meanwhile, said the resolution vote was an "exercise in the most exquisite frustration."

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 4:45pm Eastern with results from today's subcommittee vote.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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